Will Bound
by Shanne
Summary: Things are blown out of proportion for Harry when Death Eaters are suddenly on his trail. Worse still, he's got Draco with him, and he's not sure he's got all it takes to protect him. Not while he's still learning to be a vampire. Sequel to Blood Bound.


**General warnings: **

1) This fic deals with **not-so-friendly language**, **blood** and **SLASH**. Slash as in boy/boy relationships, comprendre? Not your cup of tea, then go get coffee. _No_ flames accepted. **You have been warned.**

2) English is _not_ my native language so please excuse possible mistakes and kindly point them out so that I may actually learn from them.

**Notes: **

1) Since I haven't read the HP books in English, I might have some of the spells and characters spelled wrong, as well as some of the magical creatures.

2) A tad OOC, because I needed to create my own version of Harry and Draco.

3) Deathly Hollows non-compliant.

4) Sequel to Blood Bound. You need to read that first for this to make a lick of sense.

**Disclaimer: **I own diddly squat.

**Summary: **Time puts things into a bit of perspective for Harry, but it blows them out of proportion when Death Eaters suddenly pick up his trail. Worse still, Draco's with him, and Harry's not sure if he's got what it takes to survive this. SLASH. HP/DM. Sequel to '_Blood Bound_'.

**A/N:** Sorry, guys. No beta on this one. Everything amiss is entirely my own fault.

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**Will Bound**

**By Shawn Anne  
**

**Chapter 1**

The night air used to bother Harry. It used to bother him, because he didn't know what was out there, ready to reach out of him and snatch him right into the darkness. Or maybe it bothered him _because_ he knew what his beneath the shadows.

It didn't matter, he supposed, perched up on a tree branch as he was. It didn't bother him anymore. He was one of the things that hid under the shade, and it would seem ironic and insane to fear himself.

He'd learned that the hard way. Fear was a luxury he couldn't afford. It tended to get him nearly killed on a near-monthly basis.

Actually, it tended to get him RE-killed, as he supposed he was dead anyway. His pulse had finally died out about a week ago. Snape had said it was natural and _about bloody time_. It had been a slow process. One wouldn't even think he _had_ a heartbeat after being turned. He'd had one, though. Slow, about a flutter a minute. Then a flutter every ten-twenty-sixty minutes, until there wasn't as much as an echo.

"Potter!"

Harry glanced down at the bat beneath him. At least Snape was the same as ever.

"Sir?"

"You were supposed to be training," the professor bit out, watching him with narrowed eyes.

Harry shrugged. "Draco's coming," he said offhandedly.

Snape growled at him, but turned and walked briskly towards the house, cursing Harry under his breath all the way. Harry contemplated following him to greet the Slytherin.

Draco had been dropping by regularly to bring Snape potions ingredients. Of all the things Harry had pictured Draco to be, errand boy wasn't one of them. Harry suspected Draco offered so that he could see him Harry wished he didn't. It only made things more difficult between them.

"You're brooding," a voice startled him. "Didn't Snape tell you to quit that?"

Harry looked up into catlike eyes. "Hullo, Shade," he greeted pleasantly.

Shade, Harry had discovered, was not the most reliable of friends, but he was good company.

Shade's form nodded, "Chosen one."

That made Harry grin widely. "You're early. The moon's not even fully up yet."

Shade slid down the tree and reformed in front of him, a whisper in the night, balancing slightly on the branch, swaying against the wind. He shrugged mindlessly and whistled a happy tune that might have been better off in a graveyard.

"Quit that," Harry commanded. "It gives me the creeps."

Sharp teeth gleamed in the dark. "Oh, come off it, Speedy. You know you like it when I sing."

"When you _sing_," Harry felt compelled to point out. "Not when you're whistling. You sound like a broken chainsaw."

Shade laughed and prodded him with a chilled foot. "True, that. Why are you so down tonight?"

Harry looked briefly at the house. Shade looked too. "Ah," he murmured, "the Malfoy progeny. I was beginning to wonder when he'd come by. I haven't seen him since last week, I think."

Harry nodded. "He's been around. Not as much, though. Think he's getting the hint?"

"That subtle hint where you're avoiding him like the plague?" Shade tilted his head and looked at him. "I think he got that the moment you broke up with him at Grimmauld's."

"Technically, we were never an item."

Shade threw his head back and laughed. "That's rich! I thought you were, especially with that mopefest at the beginning of the month." Shade seemed to have caught up with what he was saying, because he added, "Not that you're not a brooding drama queen in between anyway. You sure you're not a girl underneath those jeans?"

Harry didn't dignify that with a reply. Mostly because it was true- he was acting like an ovulating girl most of the time. Somehow it seemed to fit the whole dark vampire theme he had going on lately.

"Do you still love him," Shade prodded, poking him with a stick he seemed to have fixated on.

That was another thing about Shade – he ran the gossip mill between the two of them Which meant he needed the juicy details, even if he got the same reply every night.

"Still none of your business, last I checked."

Shade groaned and muttered something that sounded suspiciously like a _damn you, Potter_. Harry found he didn't much care.

"You still fancy him?" Shade saw fit to ask after a moment of regrouping.

If Harry could have killed him at this point, he would have. "You're obnoxious," he declared.

Shade threw his head back and laughed, moonlight catching the shine of his spiked green hair and casting an eerie glow over it. That had spooked Harry too when they'd first met.

"Pott-er… Who the hell are you?"

Harry looked down to see Draco watching them both with wide, annoyed eyes.

"Draco," Harry acknowledged.

"Harry," Draco shot back. "And now that we know each other," he directed towards Shade, "You are-"

"Not sitting around to hear you two ducking it out again," said Shade and reformed on the ground, standing near Draco, who nearly hugged the tree in shock. "Dudes, you need to do something about that UST thing you've got going on. If only to make Speedy up there brood less and train harder."

And with that, Shade disintegrated into the night.

Draco turned hurt, accusing eyes on the vampire. "Who was that?"

"I don't know if you're familiar with the concept, but I call him a friend."

Draco pretended not to hear as he allowed his robe to fall on the wet grass and hefted himself up in the tree. "Shove over," he snapped.

Harry looked at him. "There's plenty of branches you can perch yourself on, Malfoy. Make good use of them."

Harry could hear the annoyance in the pulse of Draco's heartbeat. It sang to him like a Siren. It was what Harry hated most about them. Draco had betrayed his trust, and yet he was the only one's touch Harry craved. It was like a need, almost as urgent and insistent as blood.

He watched as the Slytherin launched himself at a nearby branch and leaned on it, sitting almost like in a hammock, one shoe-covered foot finding balance on Harry's shoulder.

"Comfy?" Harry asked dryly.

"Very much so," Draco replied with a smirk.

They settled in silence. It wasn't tense, like it first had been after they'd met at Spinner's End. But it wasn't comfortable either. It was a bit like their current relationship. Always tiptoeing around each other, trying to keep things light. It usually failed and exploded after a while, but they never gave up trying. It was ridiculous and hurtful, most of the time.

"Snape's complaining about you not training hard enough," Draco commented after a while.

Harry expected that. All Snape ever did was complain about him. "I would if it wasn't so damn useless."

Draco looked at him with sharp, grey eyes. "It's not useless. If you don't train, you get rusty. You get rusty, you die. If you rely on your vampirism, then you're screwed too, because then you get cocky and you end up getting killed by teenagers!"

Draco sounded upset. He hadn't sounded like that in a while. Harry supposed that Corbin's murder was a bit of a sore spot. After all, they shouldn't have been able to kill him off that easily. But they did, and now Draco was angry and Harry couldn't understand why. Except he _could_ understand why as well. He wasn't stupid. He knew how Draco felt. It just didn't mean he was able to forgive and forget just yet. He wasn't ready for that.

"I'm not going to die," he offered, low and soothing.

He could feel the tension beneath the soles of Draco's shoe. A small part of him was glad. The other wanted to reach out and smooth away the fears, like Draco had smoothed his away.

"You don't know that," said Draco at long last.

"Maybe," Harry conceded and left it at that. He wasn't about to have a heart-to-heart with _Malfoy_, of all people.

Draco sighed. "You gonna make and effort, at least? Lupin's worried about you, and so is Weasel's mother."

The _so am I was left_ unspoken, but Harry heard it all the same.

"We need to stop doing this," he said. "We can't just pretend like nothing's happened!"

Draco stood up, startled, and looked at Harry. His eyes seemed oddly cold now. Harry hadn't liked that when he used to be close to Draco, and he didn't like it now, when he didn't trust the Slytherin. All the same, there was nothing he was willing to do to remedy that.

"And what would you have me do, Potter?"

"I'd have you try and act a bit more like the prat we both know you are. At least there would be no more pretending then."

"Pretending you don't care, or pretending it's easier if you didn't, because if you do, then we might have a shot at putting our lives back together?"

"Harry!"

The oddly panicked and strangled voice that suddenly yelled in his ear made Harry lose his balance. It made Draco lose his balance too, and he found himself looking at an upside-down blonde. That wasn't really the issue, though.

"What, Shade?" Harry snapped, irritated with Draco and now irritated with Shade as well.

"Death Eaters near the wards."

Harry took a long moment to process that.

He began moving before his mind caught up with him, grabbing Malfoy by the forearm and shoving him down the tree. "Move!" he commanded desperately and pushed Draco towards the nearby forest.

They barely reached the line of trees when the windows exploded and the Dark Mark appeared on the night sky, floating ominously above Spinner's End.

Harry never looked back.

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Feedback would be lovely.

Posted: _August 26, 2009_


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